


By Your Side

by lilredsoupbowl



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-04
Updated: 2013-07-04
Packaged: 2017-12-17 17:28:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/870105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilredsoupbowl/pseuds/lilredsoupbowl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Swanfire Appreciation Week(s)<br/>Prompt: Reunions</p>
            </blockquote>





	By Your Side

Her first instinct when Henry went racing out towards the beach was to grab him around the middle and hug him tightly against her. Regina, Gold, her parents – even Hook in his strange obsession with ‘Baelfire’ – depended on her to keep everyone’s link to sanity safe. They’d battled and sacrificed to retrieve Henry from Pan – Gold giving up his treasured magic in the end to save his grandson. 

Now – all safe from Neverland but unable to return to Storybrooke, they’d returned to their native land: the Enchanted Forest. The camp was nice enough; seven little huts and an eighth one in progress. Her parents had been off hunting – actually Mary Margaret trying to cheer up Charming; who had taken the destruction of his homeland harshly. Apparently never quite accepting the stories his wife and daughter had told him of the mess. 

Gold was – moping. He left camp early each morning to find solace within himself. He’d lost his son. His magic. And would never see his true love again. Henry seemed to help; the only thing that could soften his eyes – but he was a lost man. The rest let him leave; pretended that the food he’d uncovered somewhere along his day was his primary motivation: the man needed to be seen as being practical in such a situation. 

Regina and Hook – Emma did not want to think about what those two got into each day. She’d heard the telling noising echoing from below deck of the Jolly Roger when they were still out to sea; the close proximity leaving nothing private! And that was all she needed to know about Regina and Hook’s pastimes. When they’d return, Regina would be the doting mother she always was to Henry – and Emma tried to ignore hickies on both their necks. 

She and Henry (the children of the group) were usually left at camp during the day. They’d play tic-tac-toe in the mud; rough games of checkers using small stones found around the creek bed – and, if Henry had not slept well the night before, Emma would cradle his head in her lap and watch over her son as he napped; promising that her ‘Savior Powers’ could counteract his nightmares – and wished they could. 

Everyone had fallen into a state of daily survival/reflection – or for the two couples at camp, daily love making somewhere off in the forest (hopefully the ex-stepmother and stepdaughter would never discover the other!), that weeks might have gone by for all the Emma knew. 

But when Henry saw something through the trees, began dodging across the landscape; always missing her grasp, racing out onto the beach – Emma chased after without a thought in her head; without turning back to her hut to retrieve the sword left for her ‘just in case’. 

Her son was fast, and seemed to be very much aware of himself. Henry knew what he was after and nothing could prevent the stubborn boy from prevailing. 

When she saw a silhouette; a darkened form staggering towards her son across the beach; Emma glanced around for a piece of drift wood. Or a sharpened shell for defense. Finding none, she decided her fingernails would work just as well. There was no way she’d fail her son now – not after all the sacrifices made to ensure he was here; with her today. 

Throwing every ounce of energy she had into her feet, Emma raced across the sand – witnessing the darkened form lowering itself to it’s knees; sweeping a hand through her son’s hair and Henry pulling it into a hug. 

A foot away, she realized she was staring down at a bloody, dirty, thin Neal Cassidy – Baelfire. His clothing was ripped and about ready to fall off him; lips broken open in want of fresh water. But he was breathing. Sure rapid breaths she made sure were hammering against his sides. His eyes closed as he sniffed Henry; locking away his scent to memory. Holding his son tightly against him. 

She couldn’t bring herself to walk the final three steps; to invade upon the father-son reunion. Once again, a lost little girl told her she had no place in this moment; that even being a spectator was infringing.

But she remained glued to the side; watching two of her favorite people, alive, cling to each other desperately. 

Henry was talking fast, recounting his trials to his papa; telling him about how they’d traveled to this world – how they couldn’t get home. In the end, Henry began sobbing into his father’s shoulder, Neal attempting to soothe the boy by running his fingers through Henry’s dark hair. When Henry was reduced to hiccups, Neal’s eyes finally opened again, peering past their son’s shoulders and looking at her a couple feet away. Needing to confirm what Henry had meant by 'they'. 

Emma was willing herself not to cry – she wasn’t a blubbering fool! She was stronger than that! 

But Neal was making it hard. The wonderment in his eyes. The gleam of hope shining back at her; contrasting the quiver in his chin as he stilled his own outpour of emotions. 

It didn’t help that he rose to his feet, arm wrapped around Henry as he pulled their son over to Emma on the sideline; joining her in this reunion. 

“Emma…” the same greeting as their reunion in Manhattan. Raspy; unsure. But there was something there. A light of hope that burned in his eyes, causing her stomach to plummet.

“Hey,” was her weak response. Sounding instantly lame to her ears. But Neal grinned back at her; her voice apparently enough. Luckily, Henry was fine carrying on the conversation; at least starting a proper one for his parents. 

“I saw you,” he told his dad. “I saw you in my dream and knew I needed to run out to get you – that you’d pass the camp right by if I didn’t!” 

“Clever boy,” Neal answered, messing up Henry’s hair affectionately. 

“You – you, “ Emma stammered, “…aren’t you hurt? The bullet! How did you –“ 

Not waiting for a response, Emma finished the gap between them, pulling open his tattered shirt to reveal a bare chest – and a wound already mostly healed. Perhaps a small scar; a constant reminder to her that he could have been lost forever; but fate had intervened again! 

“I’m okay, Emma,” Neal reassured her. “Just a flesh wound!”

Jackass really had to make a Monty Python reference at a time like this? 

“The right people found me – saved my life and –“ 

“You’re not allowed to do that anymore,” Emma declared in a huff. 

Neal and Henry sported matching expressions of confusion. 

“You’re not allowed to keep pulling the 'self-sacrifice' card on me – leaving me for the greater good or whatever. End of the day: I’d rather face off the worst these worlds have to offer and have you by my side. Do you understand?” 

Reprimanding a lover thought dead was probably not the right way to go about this; but Neal’s quick nod and smirk had her thinking he’d caught on to her meaning. 

Romantic, sweet-nothings – they weren’t her style. 

If ‘I need you, I love you’ didn’t tell this guy what’s what – I want to kick ass by your side should.


End file.
